Death Note: The Second Draft
by Blood-Sucker-1428
Summary: What would have happened if L's heart attack hadn't killed him? If Rem never finished his name? How would Kira have been caught? This is what could have happened. Still includes Matt, Mello, and Near.
1. An Incomplete Name

**Disclaimer: ****Clearly I don't own Death Note. I wouldn't be writing fan fiction if I did. Death Note belongs to Ohba and Obata. I'm just an adoring fan.**

**Author's Note:**** Ok I am terrified for many reasons here. This is my first Death Note fanfic, I have however written stories for other fandoms and they turned out well but its been a while since I've explored a new fandom (to me, that is) and I'm so scared of disappointing people. I love reviews though and the more reviews I get the sooner I am likely to update so please read review and enjoy :).**

**Death Note: The Second Draft – By Blood-Sucker-1428**

It was chaos - Lights flashing red, alarms going off and that ominous text written on the monitors – and yet at that moment everything stopped. As L's voice was cut off everything was cut off with it. The room seemed to go silent and what followed would feel to everyone present as if it were happening in slow motion. They watched as the delicate spoon fell out of his hand and fell to the floor with a clang that was deafening in such a silence. Light watched with shock and triumph as the young detective slowly fell out of his chair, catching him as he reached the floor. He had won.

'Ryuuzaki!' Matsuda gasped – breaking the silence and freeing time to flow at its regular pace once again.

Light used all the will power he had to stop himself from laughing with joy at that moment – it was almost unbelievable that he had won. He –

Aizawa pushed Light out of the way as he checked the detective's vital signs. Aizawa almost felt his own heart stop out of relief when a small gasp came from L's mouth.

'He's still alive.' He called out. A collective breath was taken by the rest of the team. Relief filled the room but only momentarily as the urgency of the situation returned.

'No way!' Matsuda gasped. Chief Yagami – the now default leader of the taskforce - was the first to take action.

'Aizawa, can you perform CPR.' It wasn't a question, it was a demand and Aizawa didn't bother answering either but went to work straight away. The Chief lost his train of thought momentarily as they watched Aizawa pump hard on the frail boy's chest, so scared of it breaking under the force. And he was still a young boy – as intelligent and off-putting as he was – the man whose life lay on the line here was just a boy and a childish one at that.

'Mogi – call an ambulance immediately.' The chief continued. The silent man nodded and pulled his mobile out straight away as he waited impatiently for it to turn back on.

'But Chief,' Matsuda spoke quietly 'How will they get past all the security?'

'Go and use your codes to let them in!' Matsuda winced at the chief's harsh tone.

'Right.' He said and ran off to the front.

'Light.'

'Yes Dad?'

'Go home?'

'What? But Dad, I want to help Ryuuzaki!' Light could lie so easily.

'I don't want you to be here if he-' a pause. The chief closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. 'If we can't help him.'

'But Dad I want to know what happens to him.' At least this statement was sincere. It wasn't meant the way his father took it but it was indeed sincere. Soichiro placed a firm hand on his son's shoulder and looked him deep in the eyes.

'I promise I'll call you as soon as I know anything.' Light sighed in annoyance.

'Fine, Dad. But you promised!' He muttered and started to walk in the direction of the exit. He had no intention of going home however. No, not anytime soon. He was going to find the shinigami Rem – or at least what was left of her – and find out what the hell went wrong.

Light, in his search, stumbled across a pile of something he couldn't quite classify with a death note placed in the middle of it. He knelt down and picked some of it up, allowing it to flow through the gaps between his fingers. It looked like ash or sand but the colour and texture suggested something more metallic. It must have been the remains of Rem.

_So this is what happens to a shinigami when it dies_. He mused as he dropped the rest of the remains out of his hand and wiped them on his pants. Rem was no more, that meant he couldn't question her about how L hadn't died instantly – unless he was dead by now. The only indication as to what went wrong would be the death note. He opened it and flicked through the pages until he came to the half unfinished one. His eyes trailed down to the last two names on the page.

**Quillish Wammy**

Light said the name out loud as he applied it to his memory. That must have been Watari's real name. Perhaps he should look the man up later and find out more about him. But what was the point now? The man was gone and wouldn't bother him again.

Now the next name.

**L Law**

'L Law?' Light repeated in confusion. It was unfinished. 'Law-what?' His voiced raised.

She hadn't finished his name! It was incomplete! So this heart attack was not induced by a death note? Unless Misa wrote his name down at the same time, but she didn't know it so it couldn't have been Misa. What was it then? Natural? Stress? Shock from Watari's death? His heart giving up at his weight the way it did with some anorexics? And what was his first name?

Light screamed as he threw the death note across the room. It hid the wall and slid to the ground, lying flat on the floor and open on the incomplete name.

'Can you even kill someone with an initial?' He yelled and slammed his fist against the wall.

He hadn't won.

Though L did have a heart attack and was in between life and death there was no guarantee that the stubborn dark eyed detective was going to die.

Light hadn't lost yet.

But he hadn't won.

At least until he got a call from his father the stalemate continued.

The entire task force, minus of course L and Light, sat together in the emergency room. They stood out amongst the rest of the late night crowd in their suits and ties. All of them were agitated and fearful as the continued to wait feeling useless – wishing there was something they could do. Matsuda was continuously shifting his weight around in the chair and nervously tried to make conversation with other people in the ER, Aizawa was tapping his, and Soichiro Yagami and Mogi sat in silence staring at the door that lead into the hospital.

A doctor in scrubs looking exhausted from a long night running emergency entered he looked around the room and spotted the group of men in suits all eyeing him nervously.

'Are you the gentlemen with-'

'Hideki Ryuuga?' the youngest of the group cut him off. It didn't bother him though, he was used to people nervously awaiting news about loved ones. It actually made his job more worthwhile when he could bring ease to people like this as well as save lives. The doctor nodded.

'Yes, that's us.' The oldest man said. The doctor eyed them carefully for a moment before speaking.

'He's stable.' A collective sigh of relief came in unison as the tension was released from the group of men. Only now did they slump and slouch in their chair as they realized how tired they were.

'Thank you, doctor.' Chief Yagami sighed.

**Author's Note:**** So I hoped you liked it. I'm trying to map out a good plot right now so I hope you're all interested. Reviews make me happy and a happy me means quicker updates and virtual cookies for all my reviewers!**


	2. Government Facilities

**Disclaimer:**** Clearly I don't own Death Note. I wouldn't be writing fan fiction if I did. Death Note belongs to Ohba and Obata. I'm just an adoring fan.**

**Author's Note:**** Thank you to all of you who have reviewed the first chapter! I am very happy to have received such good reception so far. I hope it continues as I'm still nervous about being new to the Death Note fandom. Oh and as promised virtual cookies for the reviewers! *hands them out* Anyway read, review and enjoy!**

The next morning Matsuda stopped at the gift shop on the way to L's private hospital room. He was a little intimidated as he looked around at all the stuffed bears, helium balloons and flowers. He didn't know what Ryuuzaki would like, hell, he didn't know what he liked at all. Except sweets. He bought a bag of gummi bears out of sheer desperation and not wanting to turn up empty handed and head to the room.

When he entered the private room the rest of the task force – except for Light – were already there. Lying on the bed, very much alive was L. His eyes looked exhausted – more so than usual - and he was engulfed by the medical machinery he was hooked up to but at least he was alive.

'Hey.' Matsuda felt the need to speak quietly. He held up the bag of gummi bears. 'I didn't know what to get you and I figured since this wasn't because of blocked arteries or something that these should be ok.' L leaned over ever so slightly holding his hand out for the bag and Matsuda, almost frightened to break L, placed the bog gingerly in his hand. L opened the bag, popped a gummi bear in his mouth then hid the bag under his pillow. The other agents couldn't help but smile at this typical L behaviour at a time like this.

'Thank you, Matsuda-san.' He said, speech muffled by the chewing.

'So how are you anyway?' The young officer asked. A pause as L swallowed.

'All things considered,' He spoke quieter and with more effort than usual. His thumb lingered on his lips as he spoke. 'I am lucky to be having this conversation.'

'It's a miracle.' Aizawa mutter.

'To be honest I didn't think someone could survive a death note.' Chief Yagami said as he cleaned his glasses.

'Mm, I don't think it is.'

'What?' Yagami asked in disbelief. The rest of the taskforce had a look on their faces that mirrored Yagami's question.

'You don't think the shinigami tried to-?' Matsuda began to ask. The word shinigami was said very quietly, even in the private room, as if afraid that saying the word would summon one.

'Oh no, I'm almost certain my name was suppose to be written down but perhaps I beat the shinigami to it. I had to be next after-' _Watari_. The emotional pain was visible in L's eyes as he stopped himself speaking before saying his guardian's name. He took a deep breath to stop himself from showing too much emotion in front of the Japanese officers. They didn't need to know how lost L would be without his guardian, they didn't need to know that L had just lost the only father figure he had ever had. They were allowed to know that it saddened him – just not to what extent – he needed to remain mostly anonymous.

In an effort to try and think more clearly – his deductive skills right now being compromised by 40 percent if not more – L slowly began to pull his knees up to his body and tried to get into his crouching position. A nurse who was walking by the door caught eye of this.

'Hey, hey, hey!' She exclaimed as she entered the room. 'What have I told you about lying down?'

'Yes, I know, but-'

'No buts, I don't care what it does to your brain or whatever, you just need to rest.' She walked over to L and gingerly but forcibly made him lie down again. The detective didn't seem happy but he succumbed to his fate anyway, chewing on his thumb in slight annoyance. The nurse sighed, putting her hand on the bed's railing to lean on it and examined the many other people in the room. 'You have a lot of visitors.' He mused with a smile.

'Family friends.' L lied. The nurse glanced over her shoulder at him before addressing the group directly.

'Do you know how many times I've already told him off for trying to sit that way?' Half laughs and mumbled comments were heard from the group – not knowing how to react to the intrusion of the nurse into their rather serious conversation. 'Keep an eye on this one, he seems like a trouble maker.' She waited for an answer but did not receive one and, getting the hint, she left the room. After making sure they – eyes lingering at the door for a moment – the chief continued.

'So what you're saying is the shinigami intended to kill you but for some reason didn't?'

'Exactly.' L said. He put emphasis on the word that was noticeable for L but wouldn't have been if anyone else said it or someone who wasn't used to L's lack of emotion had heard it. 'Now, either the shinigami saw me and presumed someone else wrote my name down in their own notebook or something happened to it.'

'And you want us to find out which happened?' Aizawa asked. He was relaxed in his chair, legs outstretched and arms folded across his chest. L made a half shrugging gesture.

'It's not necessary to the case but if something did happen to the shinigami and Kira had something to do with it, it may be something worth looking into.' His dark eyes flickered over to the door briefly. 'If I were sitting correctly I could give you more insight into how helpful it would be but, alas, for now I can only operate at 60 percent capacity.'

Light had dealt with the news of L's survival better than he expected himself to. For a moment he was blinded by his rage and would have liked nothing better than to scream at the top of his lungs. His stopped himself on the verge of exploding to remind himself that this was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. After all, he had kept everything running rather smoothly in plain sight of L before – minus a few hiccups, of course – and he could do so again.

_It may be more difficult to act as Kira while spending so much time in the task force head quarters._ Light thought as he sat at his desk at home. He leant on his left hand while tapping on the desk with his left. _But I could take any time I was alone to write the names of criminals weeks in advance_. No, it wouldn't be too difficult to still have L around, just a minor inconvenience. All he had to do was think up a new course of action.

But he would do that later – for now he was going to do some research. He now had Watari's real name, Quillish Wammy, so he could use that to find out any information he could on the man that might lead him to L's identity.

Logging into his computer the first thing he opened was a search engine and typed in the name.

**Quillish Wammy**

'And now, Watari.' Light mumbled to himself. 'Let's find out who you are.'

He clicked on the first page on the search. It was a small biography with a photo of a younger Wammy. It was interesting enough as it talk of the English inventor who had quite a reputation. It stated that the man had opened up a couple of orphanages perhaps due to his love of children but never having any of his own. It was all well and good but there was nothing to state why a man with an established career ended up working for the worlds greatest detective. Unless.

Light went back to the search engine.

**Wammy Orphanages**

Scanning through the results the engine gave him Light found a particularly interesting one.

**Wammy House**

**An orphanage for talented and gifted children**.

_Talented and gifted children…_ This had to be it. It would make sense that this is how Watari, no Wammy, ended up working for L. He had known him as a child. Sure, it was just a hunch but Light was smart enough to know that most of the time your gut instinct is correct. He felt a smile creeping onto his face as he clicked on the link.

After looking at every inch of the official site Light's smile, any hint of it, had disappeared.

_This is ridiculous!_

The website itself had very little more information than the blurb for it did. There were no photos or information on the orphans, no address, no way of contacting the orphanage, nothing. The home page had a photo of two elderly men and that same sentence from the blurb. Click on About Us and it talks about how they try to nurture the children's natural abilities and how well they are all treated but no photos. There wasn't even a contact page.

Light turned off the computer in anger. This was getting him nowhere. All he knew now was L was either from this place or all the information was hidden due to Watari's involvement with L. He could understand trying to keep these children safe but damn it! This was not working out for him.

He wasn't going to give up on this though, he would just have to find other ways of getting information about L.

And he would succeed.

'Oh, and gentlemen.' L spoke to the group of investigators without once looking up from the puzzle book he was racing though. Soichiro had bought it for L thinking it would keep him occupied for a few hours. He was wrong. 'Once I am released from the hospital I'm afraid I'll have to leave you all for a short amount of time. I need to get some feedback from contacts that I can only talk to face to face.'

'But, Ryuuzaki!' Matsuda whined. 'What are we going to do without you.'

'It's not that bad, Matsuda-san.' L's empty voice came from behind the puzzle book. 'If I had died you would have continued the investigation without me so it's not going to hurt you if I leave momentarily.'

'Well… no but…'

'Good. I'll leave Chief Yagami in charge of the investigation while I'm gone. Do not follow any major leads you may discover without contacting me first and I will give you a way of contacting me.'

'Where are you planning to go?' Aizawa asked. He got no response from the man they call Ryuuzaki, instead he just continued to speed through his puzzles.

**Author's Note:****That wasn't too bad was it? I didn't ruin anything did I? Pardon me and my paranoia. I hope you liked it and please rev****iew!**


	3. Wammy's House

**Disclaimer: ****Clearly I don't own Death Note. I wouldn't be writing fan fiction if I did. Death Note belongs to Ohba and Obata. I'm just an adoring fan.**

**Author's Note:**** Ok, sorry this chapter took a while. This was for many reasons really. **

**1) Uni work but I'm in the last week of the semester so that shouldn't get in the way much anymore.**

**2) Distractions on the computer such as youtube. Yeah, I find it hard to get anything done with the internet.**

**3) I was terrified of writing for the successors and I hope I did alright. I hope no one kills me!**

**So please, read, review and enjoy!**

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><p>It was Chief Yagami who had picked L up from the hospital when he was discharged and immediately take him to the airport.<p>

It didn't seem right to Soichiro that L was rushing off to get help with the case so soon after his heart attack – one look at the boy said he needed to rest more. His face was thinner, and the boy had already been underweight, and the dark circles around his eyes were more prominent. Soichiro did not verbalise his disagreements knowing that he could not change the young detective's mind, instead he treated L more carefully than he would have otherwise.

L had not told anyone where he was going, nor for how long. He had simply asked to be dropped off outside the international airport's entrance and that when he was ready or he felt that the investigation had reach a point where the taskforce and Light could no longer handle it he would return.

"Ryuuzaki, are you sure you should be doing this alone?" Soichiro asked as he helped L out of the back of his car. Had L been one to allow all emotions onto his face he would have smiled at Chief Yagami's concern but being L – the century's greatest detective – no such expression appeared on his face.

"Yagami-san, I have travelled alone before and I will be well taken care of where I am going. Don't worry about my well being." Soichiro did not answer. Instead he took a deep breath and searched L's eyes to try and decipher if the young detective was being honest or not. Obviously he could not tell but it was worth a try. "And do not hesitate to contact me if any major development happens in the case or you feel the need to ask my opinion. Goodbye Yagami-san."

"Goodbye Ryuuzaki, have a safe flight."

L nodded in thanks or agreement as he turned around and left.

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><p>It is incredibly hard to keep anything a secret in Wammy House other than your own true identity. With all the intelligent children practicing their skills by bugging various rooms of the old building or skilfully hiding to listen to a conversation rumours spread like wildfire.<p>

So when Roger was first informed of the passing of his dear friend, Quillish Wammy, it wasn't long before the entire orphanage was talking about it. Talk of Kira and the investigation the founder and their hero had been working on filled every classroom and every dorm. Roger had no choice but to confirm it. What struck a chord with the students was the lack of information they were given on the great L. Was he ok? Did Kira get to him too? What was going to happen if he wasn't ok? And most importantly, why were the adults purposely not mentioning him?

Again it was only natural that when one child's bug overheard Roger tell one of the permanent older members of the Wammy House that they should be weary of L's condition when they picked him up from the airport tomorrow the whole orphanage were talking about it within the hour.

Three children didn't seem phased by this at all – though on the inside they were the most relieved. Relieved to hear that all was basically well, that he had not failed, and that he had not broken a promise in saying that he would return.

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><p>L was crouching at Roger's desk, hands on his knees, as he finished telling the events of the Kira investigation to Roger – who was standing to his side – and the three boys next inline to be him. The albino was on the floor playing with a puzzle and if you had not known him you may have thought he wasn't listening. The blonde was standing at the front of the desk hanging on every word. The darker haired boy standing in the door who previously had been devoted to his Nintendo DS now had it paused in his hand hanging by his side. The silence that now filled the room was that of contemplation, all of them debating the facts in their heads.<p>

Mello was the first to speak.

"I don't get it, L!" He said. "It can't be anyone other than this guy so why don't you just arrest him and be done with it?"

"Because I need proof." After L the next voice to fill the room was the soft spoken Near. His voice was barely audible over the clacking of puzzle pieces.

"You may know the outcome of a puzzle, but in order to prove it to someone else you need to put all the pieces together." Mello cringed, but he knew Near was right.

"And that thirteen day rule blows all your evidence out of the water." Mello half sighed.

"But why was that rule written on the back cover?" Matt mused from the back of the room. "That seems pretty suspicious to me man."

"Precisely." L nodded. This was followed by another clack of a puzzle piece.

"But why are you sharing this information with us? Surely it's not for an anecdote or to amuse us in anyway." L watched Near as he spoke. The child never once looked up from his puzzle, his mind processing both the puzzle and the present conversation at the same time.

"I feel as if this case needs a new perspective, it needs different approaches, and I need numbers. This case needs many investigators."

"L," Roger spoke for the first time since L had began recounting the case to the boys. "Surely you're not implying that they join you on the Kira case."

"I am." L's simple and quick reply.

"But they're still in training."

"Roger, I was a great deal younger than Near when I solved my first case and they have greater abilities than most police officers around the world."

A silence followed, as one did when you disagreed with L but knew you couldn't change his mind.

"Would you like to assist me, Mello?" The blonde boy beamed a smile of joy with the slightest undertone of sinister.

"Definitely!" He exclaimed.

"Near?"

Clack.

"Alright."

"Matt?" Matt looked from Mello, to Near, to L.

"Me?" He asked. "But these two are your successors." Matt had no problems with being third – in fact he had no intentions of being L – he was happy being Matt. Being L was what Mello wanted and if it came to that they had agreed that Matt would be his right hand man. That being said, Matt never expected any special treatment from the man, L himself.

"You have skills that I require on this case, Matt. I wouldn't have requested your presence he if I didn't." Without Watari around L needed someone like Matt who could run computer systems and could hack into any system given enough time. Not to mention the boy was loyal and willing to go at any second.

"Well." Matt gave a small shrug. "I suppose not." He looked over to Mello and smiled slyly. "Sure why not, life could use some shaking up." L smiled inwardly and nodded.

"Good." He said. "Be ready to leave at a moments notice."

That was their signal to leave.

Mello grabbed Matt by the wrist as he ran towards the door, yanking Matt along with him.

"Come on Matt, lets go see what junk we should take!"

"Careful man!" Matt's voice could be heard already halfway down the corridor. "You almost made me drop my DS!"

Clack. Clack.

Clack.

Near took his time to finish his puzzle before he picked up the completed board and sauntered to the door, closing behind him as he left.

Roger let out a sigh and walked to the front of the desk in order to see L face to face.

"L, do you think this is a good idea?" He asked seriously. "What if they fail?"

"Why?" L asked, looking up at Roger. "Do you expect them to fail?"

A silence as the old man held L's all knowing yet innocent grey eyes.

"No."

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>** Reviewing makes me update quicker, just saying… as long as I don't get flamed for my portrayal of the 3 boys… That would not be good.**


	4. Little Progress

**Disclaimer: ****Clearly I don't own Death Note. I wouldn't be writing fan fiction if I did. Death Note belongs to Ohba and Obata. I'm just an adoring fan.**

**Author's Note:**** Thank you so much to all the reviews I got for the last chapter! I got so excited to write this chapter because of you guys! And yet I'm still extremely worried when I publish a new chapter, I don't know why. This is the only fandom I worry about – maybe because its characters are so wonderful that I am terrified of ruining them. Oh well. Please ignore my little insecurities and read, review and enjoy. **

**Also, I didn't used to like Near but I'm finding myself becoming more and more fond of him… Don't know why… **

**Back to the story!**

**(Guys if you got a second notification about this it's just because I was re-reading this the next day and discovered a few mistakes. Thats all. :))**

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><p>In L's absence Light and the rest of the Japanese task force continued their investigation. Not wanting to either try out the thirteen day rule or consider the idea that Misa was at all involved in the resurfacing of murders, however, the task force was getting no where. Instead they dedicated most of their time to trying to find Rem and what to do in order to slow down or stop the murders.<p>

They hadn't contacted L once in his absence – they hadn't really anything significant to update him on and they knew he would get in touch with them if he had any significant breakthroughs with his mysterious colleagues. It was when they had made a final decision for how to slow down the murders that they decided to contact L and run everything by him.

It was a strange conversation that happened – not to say that every conversation with L wasn't strange in its own way – but this one just didn't seem completely right.

Light, some how finding himself somewhat in charge of the investigation in L's absence, used the headquarters' untraceable phone to call the number L had left them and followed L's instructions precisely. He let it ring once and hung up, called again this time letting it ring three times and hung up once more.

Then they waited for L to reach them.

It felt weird having to wait for L to reach them, for when he used Watari as his switch board you could almost guarantee you would get your reply almost instantly. It wasn't a long wait – perhaps five minutes. But when you're used to instant replies from a man whose life could be in danger it felt a lot longer.

The screens in the task force HQ all light up with the calligraphy L and the electronic voice that none of them had heard in a long time spoke up.

"This is L" The distorted voice sounded flatter than usual.

Light was the one to respond. After all he had become the temporary leader and he did have the closest relationship with L – however strange it was.

"Ryuuzaki, we thought we should catch you up on our investigation since you've been gone and run an idea passed you if that's alright."

A pause.

"Very well, Light Yagami." Huh, his whole name. Usually when L used Light's full name it was something along the lines of 'I believe that Light Yagami is Kira'. Did his suspicious grow during his absence? Surely not, not after the performance he made during L's heart attack. Soichiro and Light made eye contact, perhaps he was wary of the completed name as well.

"Well first off, about Rem…" Light said and waited for a response.

"Ah, the shinigami. What about it?" the electronic voice hummed. Matsuda spoke before Light had a chance.

"We can't find her, Ryuuzaki. Maybe she went away or back to the shinigami realm or something."

"I see." Through the distortion a deep breath was heard inhaled and then exhaled sharply. "That is possible. However I doubt it would leave without the notebook. Regardless, if it is still around and wished for I, or any of you, to be dead then we would be dead by now." The casual nature in which this was said created tension in the task force headquarters. "Thank you for your search but it isn't necessary. Anything else, Light Yagami? Chief Yagami?"

"Well yeah, there is." Light tried not to let the frustration come out in his voice – instead it came out sounding like arrogance. "Since the murders have started again we decided that it would be a good idea to ban the media from airing the names and faces of criminals. What do you think, Ryuuzaki?"

The electronic voice hummed in thought. This would be a moment when L would absentmindedly place his thumb on his lip. Another person may place their hands together, tilt their head or, say, twirl their locks around their fingers.

"The possibilities of this being effective are slim and would not work as a permanent solution but it's a start. Alright, do that as soon as you can."

"Thank you, Ryuuzaki." Chief Yagami said, nodding his head.

"Is that all?"

The others were all about ready to say that was all and get back to work but the unprofessional Matsuda spoke up.

"Just wondering if everything is alright, Ryuuzaki?" He laughed nervously. "It's probably just me but something doesn't seem right."

A silence followed – though slightly longer than the ones that came before it. When the electronic voice came back – if you listened to it hard enough or knew the original sound behind it well enough like Light did – you could hear the faint sound of amusement in it.

"Everything is fine, Matsuda-san."

"Oh, ok." He said – smiling nervously. "I guess where done now."

"One last thing." The electronic voice spoke. "How is Light-kun enjoying his newfound freedom?" Light couldn't help but give a genuine smile and give a small laugh.

"It's good," He said. "But it is kind of weird not having to put up with your strange habits anymore."

"I'm sure you'll get used to it soon enough." Was the answer Light received. "If that's all gentlemen, then I must be going."

"Thank you, Ryuuzaki." Chief Yagami spoke. "We hope to see you again soon."

"It won't be long until I return, I promise you."

The screen went blank.

So that's exactly what the Japanese task force, in conjunction with the entire NPA, they got an order to stop the names and faces appearing on television. Initially it was quite effective but names of criminals began appearing all over the internet from around the world – be it from police who had access to this information and supported Kira, or acquaintances or enemies of criminals wishing Kira to pass judgement on them. Not only that but the task force had no leads and those against Kira were starting to become restless, opinions about L and the NPA were whispered around Japan and sometimes reaching Light's ears at university. This was another situation where it was almost impossible for Light to stop the smile threatening to take over his face.

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><p>Somewhere a boy with yellow goggles over his eyes sat in a dark room searching the internet for names and faces of criminals. Over to his right the pale young detective with an obsidian mess of hair with a thumb nail between his teeth leaned over the young boys observing the monitor. To his left a blonde boy stood casually arms folded and eating chocolate was also fixated on the monitors. The light from the monitors making all their faces seem so much more grim. The youngest person in the group sat on the ground making a delicate house of cards that resembled the building they were now in. Though he did not look at the computer he was intensely listening.<p>

"Looks like your little task force's plan has backfired." Mello mused.

"All this has really done is proven how many people support Kira now." Matt commented, leaning back in his chair.

"Or are only now admitting to it." Mello added.

"Or are just blindly following others." Near's quiet voice came from behind the group huddled around the monitor. Matt looked behind him briefly, Mello hid the scowl from his face as he continued to face the computer, while L's large eyes continued to pour over the contents of the current website up. He was the next to speak.

"I think it's time I return to Japan."

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><p>Matsuda used to be a deep sleeper, nothing at all could wake him up – particularly in high school and university – but since working on the Kira case and moving into the task force headquarters his mind was always racing making it difficult to sleep. Even more so back when Misa lived here too, so her gone was both a plus and a minus… more of a minus.<p>

This all being said, it was no surprise to him that he was woken up impossibly early one morning by people making noise on the floor his room was located on. He should have recognised that the two voices that had woken him up, the ones that were currently arguing over what sounded like another room on the floor, were not ones he knew. And if he had noticed this than he would have been aware and on the look out for strangers in the high security building when he left his room. However he did not, and if you ask him he blames it on being half asleep, but Matsuda being Matsuda you can never quite tell.

Matsuda yawned, placing one hand to cover his mouth while the other was placed on the door handle. Eyes shut, he opened the door and took a step out of the room and-

_Crash._

Matsuda froze.

Crap. He had just stood on something. He hoped it wasn't something valuable – he could get into a lot of trouble. Everyone already thought he was a-

"Do you mind." A voice interrupted his thoughts. "I quite like those dominoes and I'd hate for some of them to get lost or broken."

When Matsuda opened his eyes he saw a child – but not an ordinary child. A very pale boy with even lighter hair, donning something that looked like white pyjamas, stared up at him with the most intense eyes – they were almost terrifying. In each hand he held black dominoes. They matched the ones stacked up and scattered around Matsuda's foot. The child look a lot like –

Matsuda screamed.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>** Reviews mean a happy writer; a happy writer means quicker updates. Also, a writer on semester break means quicker updates too… but still…**


	5. Increased Numbers

**Disclaimer: ****Clearly I don't own Death Note. I wouldn't be writing fan fiction if I did. Death Note belongs to Ohba and Obata. I'm just an adoring fan.**

**Author's Note:**** WHHOAA! This was harder than I expected to write. I'm sorry guys if this is not as good as other chapters but I fought a serious case of writers block to make this happen by the weekend. I was aiming for Friday night and as I'm typing this author's note that I always do after I do my last edit it is 11:03PM on Saturday night. Well, at least I got an update done like I said I would…. Right? So there was going to be a third section to this chapter but this chapter kept getting longer and then the idea for the next part kept evolving so that will get a chapter to its own… **

**Anyway long author's note is long. Long story short please read, review and enjoy. If you liked it please, please, please review. If you didn't I plan to edit this chapter anyway so don't be mean :p.**

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><p><em>When Matsuda opened his eyes he saw a child – but not an ordinary child. A very pale boy with even lighter skin, donning something that looked like white pyjamas, stared up at him with the most intense eyes – they were almost terrifying. In each hand he held black dominoes. They matched the ones stacked up and scattered around Matsuda's foot. The child look a lot like –<em>

_Matsuda screamed._

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><p>Near looked over his side and sighed quietly, keeping the look of distain on his face to a minimum.<p>

"Was that really necessary?" He muttered under his breath, becoming even less audible over the sounds of people swearing and jumping out of their beds. Soon enough Near found himself looking around at the group of people standing outside their quarters and in the doorways, all staring at him with the same amount of bewilderment and shock, including the young man standing next to the door that led to the stairwell. Brown hair hanging quite stylishly in his face, brown eyes, dressed quite nicely even for this time. Light Yagami.

Light, having gotten used to sleeping at very odd times and whenever he could when he was handcuffed to L, had found himself having woken up naturally at this time. He was heading down to the kitchen to make himself some coffee – without any sugar of course – when he had heard the scream from the level above. He ran back up the stairs and as he exited the stairwell he, like everyone else standing in the hallway, saw the peculiar child, who could be aged anywhere between eight and eighteen, crouched around a fallen down domino building. He watched as the child's dark eyes made their way around the group onto him and flash with recognition, the beginnings of a crooked grin now on his small face. Light, applying his poker face, felt his fist clench.

"Hey, Near." A voice in English spoke. Out of one of the doors came the owner of the voice – a blonde boy who was wearing all black, followed by another young boy. "What's going on out here."

Mello did not need, nor expected, an answer as he and Matt left the living quarters they had just been fighting over. He barely needed to look in Near and Matsuda's direction to correctly guess what had happened. The other boys took a look around before they noticed that Near's game had not left the young man in the stairwell's direction since they had entered. Light now had three intense pairs of eyes on him.

"Is this some kind of joke!" Aizawa asked angrily, referring to the three kids who had mysteriously gotten into a high security building, one of which was eerily similar to their head detective and all three who had an odd intensity to them. Soichiro step forward, approaching Mello who he presumed was the oldest with precaution. As soon as his foot made a noise on the floor Mello and Matt's vision snapped instantly to the approaching policeman.

"Are you kids lost? How did you get in here? You do realise this is a government facility."

"Is this guy serious?" Matt asked, now switching to Japanese, as Mello looked the man up and down.

"We're not lost." Mello said in a condescending manner natural to teenager, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, we know it's a government facility, and we got in here-." He stopped himself when the chime of the elevator was heard followed by soft footsteps. The task force was all present, who could it be? Another kid? Or –

L became visible as he turned the corner, all eyes now on him. He remained silent as he observed the tableau in front of him. His face still blank – giving away no indication of whether he was as surprised as the task force or not.

"Ryuuzaki?" Matsuda stuttered.

"I'm surprised to see you all awake." L's familiar soft voice came as he continued to scan the scene. "I hope this wasn't our doing in some way." He now focused on Matt and Mello as he walked over to Near, outstretching his hand. Near took hold of L's hand and got himself of the ground without making a sound. "Perhaps we should let the task force prepare themselves for the day ahead before we make any formal introductions." A pause. No one made a noise or a sound. "We'll see you downstairs soon, gentlemen."

L and Near turned around and started walking back towards the elevator, Near's socked feet and L's bare ones only making soft padding sounds. Mello and Matt exchanged another look before Mello started to follow in Near and L's direction. Matt took out a DS, turning it on a following behind Mello. The sound of Mello's boots clicking, Matt's sneakers, and the gaming system drowning out the softer noises.

"Ryuuzaki's back." Matsuda spoke quietly. Aizawa looked over to Matsuda and then the pile of dominoes on the ground.

"And he brought company." He said.

Light could feel his fingertips digging into his palm.

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><p>No matter how many lights you switched on in the task force's main investigation rooms the darkness still clung on tightly. So, Light – being the last to arrive – entered the conference room, he was not surprised to see everyone sitting around that table in an odd darkness, enough to make people visible but make the background fade out.<p>

When he approached the table he noticed that the only free seat was between his father and the white haired boy placed next to L.

"I didn't realise everyone was in here already." Light said as he approached his seat and sat down. "Sorry about that." As Light looked around the table he couldn't help but notice the difference in attitudes. All of the task force were looking quite serious- as per usual. While L and his, were they his guests, were occupying themselves in different ways. Furthest away from Light the brunette was still playing his DS, next to him the blonde was casually chewing away on chocolate, L was dropping sugar cube after sugar cube into his cup of coffee, and the white haired kid had a toy truck he was absentmindedly playing with.

"There's no need to apologize, Light-kun." There was something relaxing about hearing L's voice in the headquarters again. Light didn't know why but the place had just seemed empty without him. That may have been a problem if L had died like Light wanted him to but Light would have been too overjoyed to notice. Plus, they wouldn't have stayed in such a place.

"It's great to see you again." Light said to L, flashing a charming and innocent smile. L looked over to Light.

"Thank you, Light-kun."

The white haired boy paid no attention to the interaction he was sitting amongst.

"Now that we're all present," L drew his attention away from Light to address the whole group, perhaps we should start. I'm sure you're all interested in finding out who my colleagues are."

"You got that right." Aizawa muttered under his breath – arms folded across his chest.

"Did you just say _colleagues_?" Soichiro asked. Almost simultaneously the three boys in question looked over to L, lingered a moment as L started chewing on his thumbnail, then looked away.

"Perhaps that is the wrong choice of word." L mused. "It's more like they're in training." The blonde one smiled as his teeth dug into his chocolate bar.

"What do you mean, in training?" Matsuda asked. The smallest one looked up at Matsuda while the other two once again exchanged a look.

Light felt as if some weight had been lifted, as if he had just made a startling revelation, when truthfully it was no new truth. This is what he had suspected from the moment he laid eyes on the white haired one.

"They're your successors." He spoke, quietly seething. Small mutters and gasps came from the remaining members of the taskforce.

"Very well done, Light-kun!" L said, still chewing on his thumb. The blonde successor leaned over to the brunette one and spoke in English. The blonde successor leaned over to the brunette one and spoke in English.

"_**Whoa! Somebody get this guy a medal**_." The brunette did not look up from his game but snickered. Light felt himself seething even more.

"You know," He said in Japanese. "I can understand English." The blonde looked over to him and the brunette looked up as the beeping and soft music stopped.

"Good for you." The brunette said in Japanese back. Soichiro Yagami, sitting next to his son frowned at this interaction. He looked over to L.

"Ryuuzaki, stop this." L sighed, pulling his battered thumb away from his mouth and spoke directly to his successors in a toneless English.

"_**Boys, while we are in Japan please refrain from speaking another language**_."

The blonde one raised an eyebrow and smiled at Light. "Sorry, _Ryuuzaki_." Light had to stop himself from snarling. Chief Yagami just let out a sigh. Did L completely miss the point or had he ignored it on purpose?

"So what you're saying is," Matsuda said, bringing the conversation back on topic. "If something happened to you, one of them would-"

"Take over the position of L." This time it was the white haired boy who spoke softly as he rolled the toy truck across the table. "More specifically; myself or Mello."

"And Mello would be who?" Light asked, speaking down to the white haired one.

"Mello would be the one to my left, Light-kun." L said. Mello place his booted feet upon the table, leaned back and nodded. "Next to him is Matt." Matt did not look up from his game. "And between you and I would be Near."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." The young boy said. He made no indication as to wether this was directed towards the group or just Light.

"No offence, Ryuuzaki." Aizawa, directly across from L, leaned in towards the table. "But how can some kids help us out on the Kira case."

"How old do you think we are?" Mello raised his voice slightly, which in such a quite area seemed a little too much. "We're all teenagers." Near felt eyes land on him at this point. No doubt shocked to learn he was not a small child, but Near showed no sign that he cared at all – he was used to it.

Once again the conversation had veered slightly, this time it was L who brought it back on topic.

"We lost a valuable… asset in Watari. Matt, Mello, and Near do more than make up for that loss. They talented boys whose intelligence and skills will more than likely ensure this case closes soon."

The taskforce was quiet for a moment as they contemplated the three young men sitting around the table with them. No doubt if L considered them valuable they had to be good. Without Aiber and Wedy – two other people L had expressed faith in – they may have not been able to catch Higuchi.

"Well if you have faith in them, Ryuuzaki, I'm sure they're going to be a great help." Matsuda grined.

"Welcome to the taskforce." The chief said, nodding.

"Yeah," Light laughed lightly, "welcome to the team."

"Thanks, Light." Mello said, giving Light that same mocking smile and saying his name with such distaste. Light fought the urge to glare at the blonde and instead gave hi ma confused look.

"You will be given the opportunity to question the boys or answer any of their questions and once any doubts and fears have been cleared up we can continue on with our investigation." L said, wrapping up already. "And one more thing. The distress button on the belts will continue as normal except with a few minor differences. Matt would you care to explain."

"Right." The brunette paused his game and put it back into a pocket on his vest. "So yeah, you press the button just like before, except now you won't be contacted straight away with L – err – Ryuuzaki here. You'll get me. If want to speak to Ryuuzaki, Mello, or Near I'll either connect you to them or just hand the phone over to them, you know, depends where everyone is." Matt gave a small shrug. "Anyway if you don't have time or you just want to say something to everyone you can always just tell me." He took a quick look around at the taskforce. "Is that cool?"

A brief moment passed when no one seemed to have any protest or look confused – which was a satisfactory enough yes for L.

"With that matter cleared up I think it's time we you all got to know each other."

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>**Review and you'll get a virtual hug! Don't review and I'll pout and the next chapter will take longer. So… review!**

**And special shout out to Frogata and PandasWithDeathNotes for being my most loyal reviewers.**

**And a big thank you to mockingjay-lawliet-paramore for giving me a huge confidence boost for this fic!**

**I'm not one who goes around expressing emotions much… at all… but… I LOVE YOU GUYS!**


	6. Coffeehouse

**Disclaimer: ****Clearly I don't own Death Note. I wouldn't be writing fan fiction if I did. Death Note belongs to Ohba and Obata. I'm just an adoring fan. The definition is from wikipedia of all places… *shame***

**Author's Note:**** I'm so so so sorry I didn't update last weekend. I meant to but Friday night and all day Saturday I was busy and they're usually my last writing day and my editing day. I'll give my proper reasoning at the bottom so it's not in the way up here. Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who is reading this and enjoying it, particularly those of you who review. I hope this was worth the wait, I really do. Read, review and enjoy!**

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><p><span>Coffeehouse<span>**: **Adjective used to describe a chess move, player, or style of play characterized by risky, positionally dubious play that sets traps for the opponent.

It was early that afternoon when Light found himself sitting at the desk of his living quarters, hand placed on his head, bangs hanging over. He was trying to clear his thoughts about what to do about the arrival of these three boys – the successors – and how this affected his plan. All he could think about, however, was that even if L had died he would not have won – eventually one, or all, of these peculiar boys would have gone after Kira to revenge the death of their fallen idol. He wondered if it would have been easier to deal with three people slightly less intelligent than L or just L himself. Either way – Rem's decision to write Quillish Wammy's name first and therefore not being able to finish L off had led to light having to deal with four strange geniuses.

Rem's notebook was currently hidden but when Light closed his eyes he could picture it now. There it was lying open to a page with two – no, one and a half names written on it. Those English letters taunting him.

_L. Law_

Law what? Light had to admit, it was quite ironic that the detective's name included the English word "law" in it. The law had failed the world by allowing criminals to further rot the earth and even though Light was fixing this it seemed that it would taunt him through this man who called himself L, as if to prove that it could never be cleansed.

A knock on the door snapped Light from his thoughts as he opened his eyes and looked over to where the noise came from. Preparing himself he cleared his thoughts and placed a smile on his face.

"It's open." He said in a friendly tone.

The door opened but no one entered the room, instead Light found Mello and Near standing in the door way. Mello had gotten change out of a plane long sleeve black shirt and pants that he was wearing before into black pants and a vest with a cross dangling on his neck. Near was still in the same clothes, or pyjamas, as before except now instead of busying himself with one toy or another he held a toy robot clutched to his chest – his attention focused on Light.

"Oh hey Mello, hey Near." Light said, standing up and walking over to the door. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Yeah," Mello began. "Just wondering, do you guys have a chess board around here?"

"No, not here." Light said. "But there is a coffee shop not too far from here that lets you use their's if you give them a deposit. I can take you there if you want. That's if you're allowed out." He said with a laugh at the end. Mello flashed Light a grin.

"Actually, I wanted to play a game with you."

"Oh," Light mused suspiciously eyeing both boys but keeping the cool tone to his voice. "I see what you're doing. This is like the tennis match I played with Ryuuzaki, isn't it?" Near glanced over to Mello, his eyes not giving away any sign of what he was feeling, but Mello ignored him. Mello's grin grew slightly.

"Maybe." He said. "You interested?"

"Sure, we can go now if you want." He said. Light grabbed his wallet off of his desk and left the room, the door clicking shut behind him.

"One moment," Near spoke. "I need to get some shoes." Mello rolled his eye.

"You know, I didn't ask you to join in." Mello's voice oozed of bitterness. Near looked up at Mello though the silvery hair that hung in his face and the boys held each other's gaze. Light hid the smug feeling he got from this. Is this a crack he could work with?

"I know." Near finally spoke. He turned towards the stairs. "I'll meet you downstairs."

Mello sighed.

Once at the coffee shop they decided to order some drinks as well as ask to borrow the chess board. Light got his usual coffee, Near got a cinnamon tea – seeming to relish the smell, and Mello got his hot chocolate. Mello got out his wallet to pay for him and Near when Light stopped him and paid for them all as well as putting down the small deposit to borrow the chess board.

"Thank you, Light." Near spoke quietly.

"It's no problem." Light said with a smile.

They took Light's usual seat at the front. Mello and Light sat at opposite sides of the booth and set up the chess board while Near pulled up a chair and sat at the front of the table.

"I have to hand it to you, Mello," Light spoke as he placed his white king piece in it's starting position on his side of the board. "You didn't strike me as the type to like chess." Mello grinned.

"Don't play it a lot." He said, "But that's because no one's really much of a challenge for me."

Near would have made a comment about Mello's win to lose ratio when playing against him but he had come simply to observe and didn't want to effect Mello so that his concentration wasn't in the game against Light. He would much rather see Mello perform at his optimum ability than receive further verbal abuse or a displeasing look.

Light – using the white pieces – took a moment to decide on a tactic before he moved a pawn.

"You know, I was talking to Matt on the plane over here." Mello mused, leaning back as he looked over the board. "And we we're talking about how the Kira case is kind of like a chess game." Brown eyes flickered up to meet blue eyes.

"How so?" Light asked. He too leaned backwards as he waited for Mello to take his move. Near placed the toy robot on the table, positioning it so its legs hung over the edge.

"Well let's say each king represents Kira and L. I'd say Kira has a lot of pawns, including Yotsuba, but his only other help is the Second Kira – lets say the Queen – and maybe the shinigami – the bishops. Now for L I'd say Watari was his queen piece – able to do anything. Near and I would be bishops, Matt being something useful in a different way."

"A rook." Near suggested. Mello didn't even look over to him.

"Sure, a rook. The taskforce would be pawns, except your dad who I guess is more like a knight."

"What about me?" Light asked with an amused smile, tilting his head to the side.

"Since you used to be the main suspect I'd say you've caused as much trouble as you've helped which kind of eliminates you from the game." Light laughed.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Kira must be the white pieces because he started off this game. He was kind of testing the waters with his killings. Now, L was the second to move." The teens hand snatched up a pawn and hovered it over the board. "His move was testing the waters too. He set up one of his pawns to see what Kira could do."

Mello had moved his pawn so it lay in the square diagonally from Light's setting it up for an easy capture. Light pursed his lips as he concentrated.

_If I capture his pawn I will only be furthering whatever point he is trying to make here but if I don't move he will capture my piece._ Light quickly took a look at Mello who was staring at him with a mischievous grin – waiting for him to move. _Then again he can take me out either way so I can either lose a piece or we both can._ Light took out the black pawn. He placed it on the side of the table. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Near eyeing it. Mello, using the pawn in the line up took out Light's and without looking handed it straight over to Near. Near began playing with the pieces and Light almost laughed at the teenaged boy.

"Kind of like that?" Light asked. Mello shrugged.

"Kind of like that."

Mello stopped explaining as the boys took a couple of moves and every time they captured a piece they'd hand it over to Near. Mello had quite a few more pieces than Light when Light took out Mello's queen with his bishop, placing it in a position where – if it wasn't for the limited move set – it could easily take out the king. Mello, who had been concentrating let that smile creep onto his face again.

"When the missing shinigami killed Watari I have no doubt that it was Kira's wishes for it to take out L as well - or instead - but something prevented that." All three boys, including Near who currently had a few chess pieces on the fingers of his right hand, examined the board and Light had the horrible feeling he had been set up this entire time. Mello picked up his rook. "And I don't think that Kira," he paused as he moved the rook over to where Light's bishop was and took it out. "Was prepared for L to have such reinforcements."

"So what you're saying is that Kira has made a fatal mistake by trying to take out L." Light followed as he recovered from his mistake and made a move to set up a new tactic.

"Huh." The white haired boy still eyed the board.

"What?" Mello asked.

"Nothing," Near said in his calm voice. "It's impressive."

"Uh, Thanks." After a moment of hesitation Mello returned his attention back to the game. "Anyway," He began. "Yeah, you're right, Light. Before L and Kira were pretty evenly matched but getting rid of Watari has only brought in us. And I mean, come on." Mello leaned back again. "What seems more imposing, three young geniuses or an old guy. I mean a smart and talented old guy but still an old guy." Light nodded. "And if we were counting you I guess it would be four."

Light would have smiled if the situation on the board were less dire. He currently had his king, queen and his surviving bishop. Mello, on the other hand, had quite a few more pieces. Light took out Mello's knight. He looked over the board again before he spoke.

"Check."

Mello moved one of his rooks between his king and Light's queen.

Light took out Mello's rook.

"Check." Light said again.

Near had all but abandoned the chess pieces on his hand, instead he watched the board as intensely as the two boys playing the game.

Mello looked over his options before finally using one of his bishops to capture Light's queen. Light spent the next few moves trying to position his bishop to take out the king and occasionally moving his own king. Mello seemed to be making random moves. Until…

"Checkmate."

Silence.

Light checked over the board over and over again, brown eyes searching for some kind of escape.

_He's right._

There was absolutely no way Light could move his king that would save it and his bishop was so far away from the opposing pieces that it offered no help. He could briefly feel the rush of anger before he quickly calmed himself down.

_Point taken, Mello_. He thought, eyeing one of the remaining black bishops. He took a breath before standing up and holding his hand out. Mello eyed him carefully before standing up accepting the offer to shake hands.

"Good game, Mello." Light said honestly meaning it. "I can't say I'm happy I lost but considering what we were talking about I'm kind of happy L's team won." That statement wasn't quite as honest.

"Yeah, it was fun."

"What do you say, another game?" Light asked. Mello shook his head and stretched.

"Nah, I'm going to head back now." He picked up his empty cup of hot chocolate and threw it in the nearest bin. "Catch you guys later." He saluted as he exited the coffee shop, leaving Near and Light alone.

Near looked from the door, then to Light before he started to take the chess pieces off his hand and place them in the box they came from.

"What about you, Near? I'm sure you'd be just as competitive as Mello." Near shook his head.

"This isn't my game to play against you." He said, not once looking up at Light. "You should as Ryuuzaki." He placed the last piece in the box and shut it. "I'm sure he could find the time to play a few rounds with you." Placing the box on top of the board he handed them to Light, finally making eye contact. The two held the gaze for what felt like a long time before Light took the chess equipment and walked to the front counter to hand it in.

"If that's how you feel."

**Author's Note:**** I hope that was worth the wait because I felt guilty for not updating. So I had a friend over Friday night because we were going to a convention on Saturday. We spent all night Friday watching Death Note and then I only bought Death Note stuff at the convention so I guess you could say I was doing research and working on characterisation :P. **

**So please review or I'll…. Well do nothing… because I don't know where you live or your names and faces or anything… so I'm completely powerless.. Review anyway!**


	7. Chilled Conversations

**Disclaimer: ****Clearly I don't own Death Note. I wouldn't be writing fan fiction if I did. Death Note belongs to Ohba and Obata. I'm just an adoring fan.**

**Author's Note:**** Hey guys! SO SO SO sorry its been about a month since I last updated. I'm going to be honest and say that I had more important things to do but that this never left my mind either and I know almost every event and plot item I want to happen in this. This is a decent sized chapter so I hope it makes up for my absence. It also answers peoples questions about whether I'm going to be nice or mean about Mello and whether Misa is involved in this/where has she been. Anyway, read, review, and enjoy!**

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><p>Near and Light walked back to the base in silence – both had the heads down and the cold winter wind blew their hair in their eyes. It was a long while before Light decided to strike up a conversation. After all he had his so called bonding experience with Mello, it was time to get to know Near. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, that's why he and L had developed their strange form of friendship and that's why he would at least get on a casual basis with L's successors.<p>

Light eyed the small teenaged, giving him a steady look up and down. The boy clutched his robot close to his chest as he braved the wind – his hair and the collar of his shirt getting whipped around every so often.

"Near." Light spoke, looking ahead. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the young man look up at Light with his charcoal eyes so similar to that of the man he was trying to succeed.

"Yes?" That quiet raspy voice came.

"You're first in line, aren't you?" It wasn't really a question, regardless of how it was worded it was a statement. There was a pause as Near analysed the statement and chose the best way to answer. His hand that was not clutching the robot found its way to his white locks and started twirling a single lock around his finger – an unconscious habit, like biting your thumb.

"Why would you say that, Light?" They both kept looking forward on the street.

"Well," Light began, a light jovial tone to his voice as he stretched. "You seem so much more like Ryuuzaki than Mello does. Mello strikes me as being rash and emotional. You think before you speak and you seem to analyse everything you look at. Not to mention Mello seems to have a problem with you." He said with a slight laugh and smiled over at the younger boy. The smallest hint of a smile played on Nears lips.

"Impressive." Near nodded. "No wonder Ryuuzaki respects your opinion." Light would be lying if he said he didn't feel slightly smug then. "But be careful of your analysis of Mello." The boy continued. "The reasons you listed him as being inferior are the exact reasons he is still being considered."

"Oh?" Light questioned curiously.

They stopped as they reached a road. Light looked both ways, Near glancing slightly, before crossing the road.

"How so?" He tilted his head to the side a thew a quick glance in Near's direction.

"The position relies a lot on gut instinct. Surely there have been situations where you have seen Ryuuzaki have to make a quick decision or change his plan without a chance to truly analyse the outcomes? If you did not know him would you accuse those choices of being rash?"

Light stopped walking as he ran through his mind his memories of L. Near had walked a few steps further before he paused and turned around. Near eyed Light with his head slightly lowered to protect his eyes from the wind. Light half laughed and nodded before he started walking again, Near too continued walking once Light reached him.

"I see your point, Near." He said, looking at Near and catching his eyes. "But what about Matt?" Near stopped twirling his hair and instead held the robot in both arms.

"Matt has remarkable skills with surveillance and technology, and his loyalty to Mello and those he cares about is unprecedented. Though his intelligence has him ranked third he is better suited for a role other than 'L'."

"He should be Mello's Watari. Is that what you're saying?" Light asked, still looking at Near. The white haired teen took a deep breath and nodded.

They walked in silence for a moment, both shielding themselves whenever a gush of cold wind hit.

"Near, how did you get involved with Ryuuzaki?" Light asked, though he was almost certain he knew. The white haired boy quietly scoffed.

"Light Yagami, I've been told that you're more intelligent then that." He began, a hint of emotion that sounded like offence or annoyance in his quiet voice. "Mr. Wammy's grave has his real name on it, does it not? You're the inquisitive sort, surely you were curious as to who this man who played liaison for an illustrious detective was. I'm sure you have some idea of how three mere children got involved with such a man."

Light inwardly smiled. So he was right.

"Wammy's House." He said, keeping the smile out of his voice. "The orphanage Watari set up. The website said it was for gifted and talented children but gave out no further information. I was curious as to why." Near nodded once more.

"You're quite good at this." Near said, he too hiding a smile from his voice.

"Yeah well," they stopped at an intersection amongst a group of people waiting to cross the road. Light lowered his voice. "Spending so much time with Ryuuzaki you get used to this sort of thing." Near looked away, his gripped on his toy tightened slightly. If he said anything in response Light did not hear it.

The traffic lights signalled for the group to cross the road. Once they reached the other side the boys hung back to separate themselves from the group of people.

So Light knew where the boys were from, if he could just find out more information about L from them maybe he could use that to find out what his name is.

"Near?"

The wind blew L's protégé's hair further in his face.

"Yes?"

"Is, ah, is Ryuuzaki like you three?" A pause. "What I'm trying to ask is did Watari find his at one of his orphanages?"

"I don't know, you tell me, Light." Near began – his voice held a hint of mockery but nothing else. "After all you've spent more time with him during the investigation than we have in our lives." Silence. "Also if I did have an answer for you it wouldn't be my right to tell you. You would have to ask Ryuuzaki or Watari, and the one most likely to tell you is no longer with us." Once upon a time Light may have felt guilt, sympathy, or empathy – as it were all he felt now was disappointment and anger that he had no answer. He did fake sympathy quite well however.

"I'm sorry." Light spoke quietly.

"There's no need to apologize." Near said, looking forward. "I would not suggest asking Ryuuzaki, as secretive as he is your chances for an honest answer is further limited from being the main suspect for so long." Light laughed.

"I suppose you're right."

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><p>Mello entered the taskforce's main investigation room. Matt and L were currently hunched over the computers as Matt enhanced the security system and was talking to L about what this would mean for his systems. Matsuda entered from another carrying a couple of plates of cake. The rest of the investigation team were currently out.<p>

"Mello!" Matsuda called out. Mello flashed a grin and nodded. L looked over his shoulder and almost smiled.

"Ah, Mello, welcome back."

"Hey!" Mello's voice was full of cheer as he strutted over to the computers. He leaned against the desks and folded his arms against his chest.

"Hey man," Matt spoke, not looking away from the screen. "Where have you been?" Mello's grin grew.

"Kicking Light Yagami's ass in chess!" Mello gloated. Matt laughed loudly, a grin to match Mello's now on his face.

"Was this for investigative purposes, Mello?" L asked. "Because there is currently no evidence that incriminates Light Yagami."

The slight scolding of the boy was for nothing more than a show for Matsuda. L had already informed the boys of his suspicions of Light and straight away Mello and Matt had agreed with him. After hearing the facts Near agreed that he seemed the most likely. The boys were warned not to let their suspicions of Light Yagami be too obvious as if anything worth investigating came up incriminating Light it was to be done separately from the task force. If enough came up to convict Light, only then would the task force be involved. As it were, they were too emotionally involved with Light to look at things objectively.

Also, L had to admit he was quite impressed by Mello. Light was quite an opponent and for Mello to win said a lot about his determination and concentration.

Mello shrugged.

"Yeah, I know." He said, looking off in the distance at nothing in particular. "But I just don't trust that guy, you know?" L and Matt both nodded silently.

His performance skills were to be commended too.

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><p>The next day at university Light entered on of the on campus cafeterias looking quite flustered. Not because of his university work – oh no, that was a breeze. Hell, he did his university work, helped out with the investigation and still had time to spare. No, that wasn't why he was in such a mood.<p>

He still didn't know what to do about L.

Or those three boys.

…

Not to mention he had to take suspicion away from Misa soon. The purpose of her doing Kira's killings had been served, though the ultimate goal failed. If suspicion continued to focus on Misa it wouldn't be long until she was brought back into custody and the whole cover up would be blown.

Then where would Light be?

Where would the new world be?

It was times like this that Light sort of missed Ryuk following him around all the time. The shinigami may have been no help but at least his ramblings and annoying comments distracted Light long enough for him to clear his head.

Light payed for a coffee, grabbed a couple of papers from the table of free magazines and papers, and sat down to take his mind off things. Taking off the plastic lid from his coffee he opened the first paper and took a sip of his coffee.

Hello.

"What is this?"

Light forgot about his coffee and read the article with interest – a smile forming on his face.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>** There you go guys! Hope you liked it! Review and I'll be grateful. Give me a good review and I'll love you forever.**


	8. The Young and the Hopeless

**Disclaimer: ****Clearly I don't own Death Note. I wouldn't be writing fan fiction if I did. Death Note belongs to Ohba and Obata. I'm just an adoring fan.**

**Author's Note:**** Thank you for the lovely PMs and reviews everyone :). Special shout outs for mockingjay-lawliet-paramore, TheCakeIsALie (unregistered reviewer), and TheMikamiEscape for their great comments. This chapter has meaning! I promise you. Slowly we're moving on with the plot and a lot of the time its probably going to happen without you noticing, coz L and Light are smooth like that :P. Anyway read, review, and enjoy :)… pretty sure that's my catchphrase…. Oh and Im trying to spread everything out a bit more 'cause the chapters look awfully cramped to me and I'll go back and do this to the rest of the chapters eventually.**

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The members of the NPA headed to the main investigation room bright and early that morning. They were quite shocked to find four people already in the room. From their time working in the hotel rooms the task force were quite used to seeing L work on the investigation all day and night and only finally falling asleep once his body refused to continue so they were expecting L to be up already or still up, but they were surprised to find that the three teenaged boys he had brought along appeared to have not gone to bed and were still awake also… well… sort of still awake.

L was sitting at one of the computers typing away and searching data as per usual. The little one, Near, was in a seat next to him, his computer was on but he was more fixated on the little paper building he was making and the occasional conversing with L than on the computer. Mello and Matt were sitting at one of the desks. Matt had fallen asleep with his game still on, his head resting on Mello's shoulder. Mello, though he looked tired, was currently reading through files that had been made about the Yotsuba group and the murder notebook.

Aizawa cleared his throat. L and Near turned around in their chairs.

"Oh, good morning everyone." L smiled one of his rare bright smiles.

At the loud sound of L's voice Matt shot up.

"Whoa, dude, what time is it?" He asked groggily, tugging his goggles off his head and rubbing his eyes.

"'Bout seven thirty or something." Mello said as he sat forward, relishing the fact that he could move his shoulder again after a couple of hours.

"Am or pm?"

"Am, you idiot." Matt pulled a face at Mello and nudged him but only a second the two boys were smiling at each other.

After a moment of silence – making sure the boys were quite finished – Aizawa spoke.

"Ryuuzaki, have these three been up all night?" L looked at Near and held his gaze for a while before looking over at Mello and Matt.

"With the exception of Matt, who fell asleep three and a half hours ago, yes." He looked back over to the officers, his eyes not quite hiding his confusion and curiosity.

"It's probably a good idea to send them to bed." Aizawa's tone made the statement feel more forceful than a simple suggestion. "They can't be that much like you." Again L's eyes flickered between the boys before it seemed to dawn on him. He looked back at Aizawa with half an embarrassed smile on his face.

"Yes, of course." He said sheepishly. "It is lucky that I have fathers like you and Yagami-san to assist me. Boys, would you like a break?" Mello leaned back in his chair and silently stretched for a long while before standing up, leaning with one hand on the table.

"I'm not that tired, but I could use a shower and a change of clothes." He shrugged, shoving the hand that wasn't against the table into the pocket of his jeans.

"Yeah, 'cause God forbid you stay in the same clothes for longer than six hours." Matt mumbled in his half asleep state. Matsuda stifled a laugh, Matt grinned at Mello and received a deathly intense glare in return.

"Whatever!" Mello said, sharply turning on his heal and began strutting away – boots clicking on the tiled floor. "Later, L!" After he was out of sight Matt sat forward.

"I'd kind of like to have a shower too, but pretty boy is going to be at least an hour."

"Heh, pretty boy." Matsuda laughed, smiling awkwardly at the other detectives. "That's a good one." Aizawa rolled his eyes. Mogi ignored him.

"You may use my suite if you so wish, Matt." Near spoke with his back to his fellow successor; his concentration still entirely on his paper building.

"Really? Thanks, Near." Matt said sincerely. Near shrugged him off.

"What about you, Near?" L asked.

"I'm fine." The boy answered automatically.

"You sure, kid?" Aizawa asked.

"Certain, thank you."

"What about some coffee?" Mogi spoke up for the first time.

"No, I'll ask for some if I feel like it."

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><p>.<p>

The task force went to work on tracking the latest murder patterns and doing further research. When Matt got back from his shower wearing roughly the same clothes he was in before he thanked Near again and got to work on seeing if the criminals currently getting killed were coming from any specific websites.

When Mello returned he was wearing dark skinny leg jeans, a black shirt and a jacket with feathers on it. Matt couldn't help but crack up as soon as he saw his best friend.

"Really, Mells? The feathers this early on? Don't you think we're setting ourselves up as weird enough as it is?" Mello rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at Matt. Matt chuckled silently. "I love you really, Mells." Mello rolled his eyes again before sitting at the computer next to Matt.

"Love you too, Mattie." He answered with a hint of a smile. Soichiro couldn't help but smile as he saw the two teenagers interact like real brothers. It reminded him of when his family has its close moments.

Mello had just booted up his computer and started work when a buzzer went off and the main screen switched to the outside security camera showing Misa standing there impatiently. L could not contain his groan at the sight of the girl here once again.

"Misa." He sighed.

"She must be here for Light." Matsuda stated the obvious as he stared up at the screen. Misa waved at the security camera.

"So this is the girl who was under suspicion of being the second Kira?" Near asked, his attention off his toys for the first time so far that day.

"Yeah," Aizawa spoke. "She's going out with Light. She must not know he has university today."

"She's cute." Matt spoke quietly to himself more so than to the group.

L went back to work before speaking again.

"Mogi-san," he begun, his voice flat once again. "Please go inform Miss Amane that Light-kun is not here and that she must leave the building."

Mogi stood up and began walking before Mello got up and stood in front of him, holding a gloved hand out.

"Hang on a second." Mello said. "If you were so sure that she's the second Kira then you shouldn't alienate her completely." He looked over at L. L turned his chair around to face Mello and Mogi. "Let me go tell her that Light's not here."

"Mello, the second Kira only needs a face to kill." L stated factually as a warning to his young associate.

"This again?" Aizawa groaned.

"I thought we already cleared Misa." Matsuda said, his voice came off very unsure.

"We did." Aizawa said, "Ryuuzaki's just being stubborn again."

Mello and L seemed not to hear any of the others.

"I'll cover most of my face." Mello pleaded. "I'll wear a beanie and some sunglasses, and cover my mouth with a scarf or something. Ryuuzaki, I know what I'm doing." L's dark blank eyes searched Mello's blue pleading ones for a long while before he answered.

"Very well, but make it quick."

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><p>.<p>

Misa had been standing outside the investigation building for what felt like an eternity before an unknown figure came out. She could tell that they were young because of their height and their fashion sense and she could tell it was a boy by his frame… unless it was just a really butch girl?.. She could also see the shock of blonde hair from between the scarf and the beanie and the parts falling front of his covered face.

"You're not Light!" Misa whined. Mello scoffed and smiled underneath his scarf.

_Good._ He thought to himself. "Nah." Is what he said. "I got sent down to tell you he's at university today." A look of devastation flashed across Misa's face before she looked back at Mello and it was replaced with a look a disdain. She bent one knee and placed her hands on her hip.

"Excuse me," She said, "but I don't even know you!" Mello laughed.

"Sorry," He said. "You can call me… Mason." He would have grinned at her but she couldn't see his face. Suddenly the girl's disposition changed again.

"Hi Mason, I'm Misa." She said cheerfully. "So, any idea when Light's going to be back?" Mello shrugged and shook his head.

"Not really." Once again the girl's face dropped.

"Aww!" Her eyes began to water. "It's not fair!" She whined. "I've barely seen him at all since, since…" She seemed to be looking for the right thing to say. "Since I let him down with something."

Let him down by not killing L? Mello's fingernails began digging into his palms. _L…_ his fists loosened as he looked up at the security camera. "Not living up to expectations, hey?" Mello asked quietly. He took his eyes off the camera and looked at the floor. "Yeah, I know what that's like." Misa sniffed and wiped her eyes.

"You do?" She asked.

"Oh yeah." There was a moment of sombre silence before Mello looked up at Misa. "Hey look, if you ever want to talk about it or just hang out with someone other then Light why don't you come see me?" He asked, his voice sincere. Misa's eyes flashed and suddenly her hands were on her hips again and she was pouting.

"Um sorry, but I've already got a boyfriend." She sounded like one of those teenaged girls Mello saw in all those American films as she pointed her finger at him – bitchy and snobby. "And how old are you? Like twelve? Plus, I don't even know what you look like, you could be hideously ugly. What's with the get up anyway?" Mello held both hands up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down!" He said. It was Mello's turn to rant. "First of all, I'm fifteen and I'm not ugly. Second, I meant as friends. What is that anyway? Light apparently has a few girlfriends and you're not even allowed a guy whose a friend? And this get up is a precaution. Suspicion of being the second Kira and everything." Misa's face dropped again, not to devastation this time but just showed signs of disappointment.

"Ryuuzaki still on that?" Her voice was full of sadness once more and suddenly Mello felt slightly bad.

"Well, yeah." He said with a shrug. "But hey, he let me out here and I'm not as expendable as most of the task force so that saying something." Again Mello smiled forgetting that Misa could not see it – hopefully she could hear it in his voice. He got a soft smile in return so maybe she did.

"I guess so." She said. A smaller, slightly more comfortable silence arose this time.

"So what do you say about the friendship thing?" Mello asked. "I mean, come on, you've got to have someone you can bitch about your boyfriend to!" Misa giggled and nodded.

"Ok Mason." She said cheerily. "I'd like that."

"Me too." He said, subconsciously making his voice cheerier than he would usually to make up for the lack of facial expressions. He held out his hand to Misa. She took it and they shook on their new found freedom.

_There you go, L. _Mello thought. _Part one, completed._

_._

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**Author's Note:**** Please review guys, it makes me very happy and makes me want to write! PLEASE!**


	9. A Change of Pace

**Disclaimer: ****Clearly I don't own Death Note. I wouldn't be writing fan fiction if I did. Death Note belongs to Ohba and Obata. I'm just an adoring fan.**

**Author's Note:**** An update :o! Its not my best work but I needed to update. So guys, this is my schedule for the next while. I will be busy for the next 2/3 weeks with uni stuff – if I find the time to update then I will. Then I have two weeks off – you will have 2 updates then I promise. Then Im back at uni for 5 weeks – most likely 1 update 2 at the most then – then Im off from Nov – about Feb/March (not sure) which will mean lots and lots of updates. One review off 50 guys! I owe you all a big big thank you. If it wasn't for you reviewers I probably would have given up by now but you guys keep me happy and interested! Read, review, and enjoy! :).**

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It had been a month since L had returned with the three boys in tow and no real progress had been made on the case. The days were pretty much the same, and to those who do not sleep they almost blurred into each other. Today could have been any other day, Mello was taking what had become his weekly walk with Misa, while Light and the task force sat at head quarters desperately wanting some type of progress for their respective views on the Kira case. No one questioned why Matt and L had headphones on and seemed to be collaborating; they were most likely just reviewing videos and reports on Kira.

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><p>.<p>

"Nah, that can't be right!" Mello argued, just getting over a momentary fit of laughter.

"I'm serious!" Misa whined. "Ryuuzaki is a pervert!" Mello laughed again as he looked to his side at Misa, her face completely serious. He held his smirk as he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, that just doesn't sound like the Ryuuzaki I know." He said with a relaxed sigh. "What did he do?" Misa stopped in her tracks as she grabbed Mello's hand and forced him to look at her in her dead serious eyes.

"Mason, he grabbed my butt." Misa earnestness coupled with the absurdity of the image caused Mello to crack up laughing once more.

"Okay," He began as he wiped a tear from his eye and kept walking. "You got me on that one."

Currently in the head quarters Matt was eyeing L with a huge grin on his face, L skilfully ignored him.

"Did he do anything else?" Mello asked. Misa tilted her head as she placed a finger to her mouth.

"Well…" She mused. "Oh yeah! He totally perved on Light's and my dates! Said that if he left the room he'd just watch from cameras!" At this one Mello just shrugged.

"If it was while you were both under surveillance that's totally understandable." He reasoned. Misa gasped. She once again stopped and grabbed Mello by the shoulders to face her.

"Oh no! Mason! He's turning you into a pervert too!" She pulled Mello into a tight protective hug as Mello once again cracked up laughing.

At the same time Matt cracked up laughing – gaining a few stares from the rest of the taskforce. Again, L just ignored him.

"It's okay, Misa!" Mello exclaimed, grabbing her hands and taking them off his shoulders. "I'm not going to be a pervert." They continued walking before Mello continued. "Plus my best friend who's good at surveillance and stuff, he's the most likely to become some sort of sexual deviant."

Matt was abnormally quiet as L glanced over at him.

They continued to chatter and laugh as they walked until they had completed their usual route and ended up back at headquarters.

"So, do you want me to send Light out again?" Mello asked as they slowed to a halt. Misa gave a small shrug.

"No its ok, I've seen him already today and I'll get to see him again tonight on our date." She grinned while Mello rolled his eyes behind those sunglasses.

"A date with Light Yagami, how _fun_."

"Be nice!" Misa said and gave Mello a mighty thump in the gut with her handbag causing Mello to topple over slightly. "I don't want to hear anything bad about my Light!"

"Heh." He scoffed as he recovered. "I bet he badmouths me all the time."

"_Actually_," Misa began with a smug tone and a sly smile. "He hasn't said anything about you. Except that you're name isn't Mason." She gave Mello a little poke. He pushed her hand down.

"You caught me," Mello said with a smile. "But hey, the task force don't know my name either." Misa eyed him cautiously but soon switched to a disinterested shrug.

"Whatever, as long as I'm not the only one who doesn't know your secret identity." 

Secret Identity!

Mello cracked a smile. Misa always had a habit of making any detail of his life he carefully share sound like it was from a comic book. or movie, or something. Mello looked up at the security camera and gave it a casual salute.

"I better go inside now. Work and stuff." He spoke dispassionately as he continued to look at the camera as if trying to see those who were looking through it. "See you next time."

"Bye Mason!" Her voice was full of cheer. "Say hi to Light and Ryuuzaki for me!"

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><p>.<p>

Mello's heels clicked on the headquarters' floors as he strutted over to join the task force at their work.

"Misa said she'll see you later tonight on your date, Light." Light closed his eyes and took a sharp breath in frustration as Mello's words came from behind him. He didn't know whether it was directed at Mello, or Misa, or a culmination of both. Either way he chose not to answer.

"Hey, Mello!" Matsuda greeted the blonde warmly. "Did you have fun with Misa?" Mello's response was a shrug as he sat himself next to Matt to join him on his work, taking off all the extra articles of clothing that he used to conceal his face. Matt, hunched over his computer gave Mello a cold stare.

"Sexual deviant, am I?" He whispered.

"Totally." Mello said back, smirking brilliantly.

"L," The ever silent Mogi spoke. "You might want to have a look at this." L gingerly stepped off his computer chair and walked over to view Mogi's screen. As he peered a thumb raised to his mouth.

"Oh, I see…" He spoke softly. "This is interesting." The successors and the rest of the Japanese taskforce got up and stood in front of the screen. L pushed a few buttons and the graphics on Mogi's screen were teleported to the larger centre screen. The graphics were two charts. One showed last week's deaths presumed to have had something to do with Kira and the one just bellow it was this week's. The difference was significant.

"It looks like Kira's upped his game." Aizawa said through clenched teeth as he examined the screen.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Aizawa-san." L spoke through the thumb in between his teeth. "There is a possibility that Kira has indeed just "upped his game" as you so put it, but there is only a slim chance. Would you boys care to elaborate?"

L had taken up a habit of testing the three successors as he sometimes did with Light. It was his way of training them, to see if they were capable to succeed him. He had never been one to see this whole successor thing as a priority but after what happened he did not want to leave them under prepared and with no successor chosen.

There was a moment of silence as the boys looked at one another before Mello chose to go first.

"Well…" He began undecidedly. "This could be the same guy just trying to throw us off our game, like Aizawa said. See, if you look at the data from both graphics surrounding types of crimes and locations you will see that they're still killing the same amount of the same people they were before. They may have just added these murders that don't fit in with the current profile to through us off. The original Kira was good at that type of thing."

"That," Matt nodded, agreeing that Mello's theory was feasible. "Or," He titled his head to the side. "Or this is an entirely new guy who has been instructed by the shinigami, or by his own choice, to follow the last Kira's choice of action but also do whatever he wants as well. You know, like Higuchi and the Yotsuba group. I think that would give a reason for the sudden change."

Near remained quiet for a moment as he silently reviewed the figures over and over in his head. "What seems like the most likely option is that there are currently two Kiras." His voice was only slightly louder than his usual near whisper. "The statistics for last week and now are too similar to suggest that this is one new person acting alone. In the case of Higuchi there were at the very least subtle changes. This being said, it also seems to me that these new murders aren't different enough to suggest that it is the same person trying to confuse the investigation. If this is what Kira was trying to do why didn't he just change his entire pattern? No, I believe this is the work of two."

"Light-kun?" L asked. He had not once peered away from the screen. Light looked at L and cleared his throat before he began.

"Though I think Near's opinion seems the mot feasible – the statistics and past experiences seem to back it up – this may be exactly what Kira wants us to believe. If this is the case then Mello's probably got it right and it's the same Kira trying to confuse us. We can't discredit Matt's theory though, with what we know about the death note. If this were my decision I'd look into all of the theories but pay special attention to Near's." Light could almost feel Mello scowl at his with this statement, it took his entire being to stop himself from smiling.

L, his back to everyone, nodded so subtly that you could barely notice. "Good," He said, directed to all four young men. He walked back to his own chair and carefully got back into his gingerly crouch. "We'll start following Kira's patterns more closely." L spoke with authority as he always did when directing the task force and whenever he addressed groups such as the ICPO. "I suggest we look into all three theories brought to our attention. I suggest breaking up into teams to research each theory. At the end of every week we'll collaborate in order to see which theory has more weight to it. If we decide one is definitely out of the question then we'll stop investigating it and the members of that group will join the remaining two until we have enough evidence to support one single possibility. Any questions?"

A couple of mumbles and words of disagreement and agreement were spoken before everyone got back to work. There was going to be a lot of work and late nights with this form of researching but it was a much simpler approach then any other and would bring about results quicker so no one in good conscience could bring themselves to totally disagree. L peered into his empty coffee cup and inwardly sighed.

"And Matt?" He added, looking back onto his work.

"Yeah?" The young redhead asked.

"Would you go get me some coffee?" L pushed the little china cup across the desk in Matts direction as he continued his work. Matt stared at the little white cup for a moment before he begrudgingly snatched it up and walked off to make some coffee.

Needless to say, Matsuda was happy not to be doing the coffee run for once.

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**Author's Note:**** Hope you guys like this and I hope you're ok with my schedule! I promise I'll see this to the end (whenever that may be…)**


	10. Shakespearean Politics

**Disclaimer: Clearly I don't own Death Note. I wouldn't be writing fan fiction if I did. Death Note belongs to Ohba and Obata. I'm just an adoring fan.**

**Author's Note: What's this? An update? SHOCKING!**

**Look guys, I am so, so, so sorry. I am going to be perfectly honest with you, yeah uni was busier than I thought it would be and then any time I had it was dedicated to play Final Fantasy 4, Sonic Generations, and Skyward Sword. Death Note wasn't on the top of my mind but I have finished 2 out of 3 games, I rewatched the series and I am on break until March. I promise you I never ever intend to abandon this story, I will keep with it until the end! I'm so sorry you had to suffer such a long time but to make up for it, this chapter is quite Light and L heavy and we haven't had a chapter like that in a while. So, once again I apologize, I hope I haven't lost my touch with these characters, and I hope you read, review, and enjoy!**

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"Yeah, I'll have a regular coffee and a salad sandwich." Light said to the woman behind the counter as he opened his wallet, readying the cash.

"Any sugar?" She asked. Her voice was too friendly, the kind of friendly you only ever get from people who work in stores.

"No thank you."

These days Light felt as if he had no time to himself. He knew there was a time when he used to feel nothing but boredom; nowadays he was lucky to even feel bored for a passing moment. Between cleansing the world, and pretending to help on the Kira investigation, Light also had to deal with Misa, university and whatever study he needed done, dealing with the successors – particularly Mello – and seeing his family. The only time he found a moment for himself was when a university class ended and he was either waiting for another one to start or about to head home. He missed Ryuk sometimes but Light enjoyed his own company so before he went home from university he always went to one of the onsite cafes, bought some actual food and coffee, and sat down to read the newspaper or just think. He was even willing to put up with the ridiculously priced food just to be alone.

It is without saying that as he was putting his wallet away and picking up a paper only to hear two voices, a soothing one and a raspy one, chattering away in English, he was rather annoyed. Light turned around and scanned the area until his eyes landed at the table with the two odd looking foreigners with a paper open on their table deep into a discussion. Light closed his eyes and sighed, preparing himself to go over to the table.

It was L who had seen Light approaching first, as Near was the one reading the newspaper, and had beamed one of those off putting smiles at him.

"Hey Light-kun!" He said in an only slightly happier tone then his usual range and switching into Japanese. Near looked up just as Light had reached the table. His eyes flashed on him briefly before turning back to the paper.

"Light." He spoke softly. Light paused a moment as he looked over the odd pair once more.

"What are you doing here?" He asked them both, hiding just how annoyed he was but allowing a little bit of it through, just to get the point across. L's large eyes flickered innocently over to Near before flashing back onto Light, retaining that so-called innocent look.

"Natsu wished to leave the house and my dear friend who is no longer with us always scolded me for staying indoors for too long so we decided to go get some coffee. I remembered this café from my time as a student here and decided to bring my friend here with me, is there something wrong with that Light-kun?"

Translation: Near was bored looking over stats and files, and I wanted to see what you were up to so we decided to stalk you at university.

Light raised an eyebrow as he peered into his coffee.

"No, I suppose there's nothing wrong with that." He sighed.

"Good." L said, half smiling. "Care to join us?"

"Sure." Light replied as he switched to a lighter disposition. He pulled up a chair and sat between Near and L, who sat facing each other. "Mason didn't come?" Light asked. L's eyes stared blankly at his coffee, switching back to his "L" persona, before as he replied.

"I've spent enough time with Mason in the past. I've never had the real pleasure of spending a free moment with Natsu." Light saw as Near shifted uncomfortable in his seat.

Here's that crack again. Near is the favourite to become the next "L" but Mello, most likely from being in the orphanage longer and being more emotional, has spent more one on one time with L. So there's more to this than just an intellectual competition.

"Oh." Light said. His eyes lingered on the slightly agitated silver hair teen for a moment before he turned his attention to L.

"So, what are you doing anyway?" It was Near's quiet voice that answered.

"Catching up on other current affairs other than Kira related news and discussing it." He did not look up once. The way Near hardly ever tore his attention away from his activity to pay attention to another sometimes amused and sometimes angered Light. Was it a tactic to make others feel inferior? Was he truly not interested? Or did he not realise it was rude? Judging by his role model's it was most likely the latter. Though when Mello was rude he usually meant to be rude.

"Yes," L spoke with a sigh. "Unfortunately even your university written papers are riddle with rumours or opinions on Kira and our investigation."

"Really?" Light question. Near cleared his throated and lifted the news paper up slightly.

"Whether Kira is too great of a match for the genius and elusive detective "L", or "L" is just losing his touch is debatable. It is possible that this Kira figure is as much of a genius as they claim "L" to be. However "L" has been around for a very, very, long time – two decades if I'm correct – presuming he was a young man when he gathered his credentials then he should be a middle aged man by now who is past his prime. What is not arguable is that Kira is in the right here. I am not a blind columnist, ladies and gentlemen, I can see where this mysterious detective and the police are coming from, but I can also see how we benefit from the world Kira is setting up for us. Lets face it, since Kira has been a presence in our society crime rate has plummeted, our world is a much safer place. Have you ever felt so safe walking the streets at night? Do you not feel like those who commit atrocious crimes are getting what they deserve? If you ask me Kira should be made law and the great and mighty "L" should stop while he's on the top. "L" should take a page from the powerful and aging Prospero from Shakespeare's "Tempest" and drown his book and burry his staff now that he has reached his potential." Near placed the paper down and gave L a crooked smile, one eyebrow raised.

"You look great for a man in his late forties." The cheekiness clear in his raspy voice. L gave him a cheeky smile back and shrugged. That was probably the most earnest moment Light had yet to see between L and his greatest successor.

"Doesn't it concern you that people feel that way about you?" Light asked L sincerely. L looked at Light and merely shook his head.

"People are entitled to their opinion, we cannot change that." He said in a matter of fact voice. "Clearly I am not a middle aged man, you know as well as I do that I am not past my prime. My dearest friend was past middle age and into elderly and was one of my greatest assets so I do not believe that one can simple peak. What this reporter says about my career does not bother me in the slightest."

"Prospero only gave up because he obtained what he wanted and no longer needed his sorcery." Near added, actually looking up at Light with those eyes that matched L's so closely. "We have yet to obtain what we want." Light faked a smile.

"You guys have a good outlook when it comes to other people's opinions, I wish I thought that way." He said with a laugh.

"You never struck me as the type to care what another person may think of you, Light-kun." L mused, thumb resting on his bottom lip.

"Just because I don't care too much about hanging out with people my age doesn't mean I don't care what people think of me. I don't like it when you accuse me of being Kira." L gave a shrug.

"That's true." He replied softly.

A moment passed as Near continued to read the paper and all three of them silently sipped their cooling coffee, or in Near's case tea.

"This paper does interest me, however." L spoke. Light glanced over to the page header of the paper. It was the one he always read. Damn it. "The young writers at your university have an interesting view. How often does an issue come out, Light-kun?" Light watched his coffee for a moment as he contemplated lying. If L found out he was lying it could only end up hurting him further.

"About once a week." He decided it was safer to tell the truth in this case. One less lie to keep up on.

"Would you mind bringing us a copy when a new issue comes out each week? Natsu and I would appreciate it."

"Very much so." The little voice added.

_Damn it!_ Light thought to himself._ You could say no. Just say sometimes they're out of copies by the time you get here. Or just tell him that usually its filled with trivial things about pop stars and movie stars. They'd lose interest then._

"Sure."

"Thank you, Light-kun."

"Yes, thank you very much, Light Yagami."

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**Author's Note: I can't be more apologetic guys, seriously. I just hope you haven't all abandoned me :P. Anyway, review please! More reviews mean I'll want to update sooner! PLEASE STILL BE HERE!**


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